| Summary: | This work seeks to understand how liturgical meaning is historically generated and shaped. As a case study, the thesis examines the theological and ritual representation of the Armenian Eucharistic liturgy. The recent studies in Eastern Christian theology and liturgies were focused on the Byzantine tradition as a major representative of the Christian East. As a result, other Eastern Christian traditions and their liturgical heritage receive little scholarly attention. Unlike the Byzantine, Armenian Eucharistic theology and practice still wait to be fully elucidated. In recent decades several scholars (Findikyan, Winkler, Feulner, and Renoux) made significant contributions to the various aspects of the Armenian liturgical tradition. Yet, the Armenian Eucharistic ritual and theology remain untouched.
In that context, this research constitutes the first substantial study of the Armenian Eucharistic rite in the English-speaking world. The scope of this research, however, is not intended to be a comprehensive analysis but rather to chart critically the development of the liturgy through a broader methodological narrative: discourse analysis.
The thesis critically examines the narratives that shape how a liturgical activity such as the Armenian Eucharistic liturgy is represented, performed, and remembered. This is not to diminish the significance or impact of this activity but rather to deepen it by looking more broadly into its meaning for a broader range of narratives and entangled identities.
This thesis then engages with the historical matrices of the liturgy as shapers of contemporary liturgical meanings, contributing both to Armenian and Liturgical studies.
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